The Next Hill

Robb, somewhere in the Nevada desert, August 2002.

I think I've always had two things going for me in my approach to work and life in general. {This is Robb writing} One is: I'm a pretty good problem solver, especially when there are tight parameters. Restrictions and limitations help keep me focused. The other is: I'm good at rewriting those parameters, pushing beyond the limits when necessary.

I've been thinking about how these qualities have served me well lately. It's surprisingly useful, for instance, to come up with five different ways to pick a quarter up off the floor without bending over. (Hint: Number Three involves a magazine insert. Number Five requires a ruler, a neodymium magnet and a piece of string) It seems like ten times a day I need to adapt to some new challenge.

The hardest part, of course, is when I try to push beyond the restrictions, to reinvent the circumstances. There are, after all, physical limitations. I am constantly questioning myself: Are you not doing this thing because you can't? Or because you think you can't?

That's when I find myself angrily jabbing my walking stick at the ground to summon the next bit of strength or invoking my mantra, Keep Moving, or turning up the music, whatever it takes. Maybe it's denial, but it's my denial, thank you very much! and it's going to get me up the next hill.